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WATERWAY’S IRELAND ARE insisting that new bye-law changes are about acknowledging that more and more people are choosing to live in a houseboat on Ireland’s canals.
The public consultation process on the law changes ended yesterday with a number of Midlands politicians claiming that they will hurt tourism and local communities.
Waterway’s Ireland say that there are no moorings for boats off the canal system and as a result all boats on the canals are continuously on navigation property.
Much of that property must be kept available for recreation they say, so permanently moored boats must be recognised as such and charged accordingly.
Waterway’s Ireland say that at present they have no way of accurately saying how many people live on houseboats in Ireland because there is only one type of licence.
This licence allows you to travel on the network and having permanent mooring does not guarantee that you are there whole time.
Waterway’s Ireland spokesperson Katrina McGirr says that they want to be able to track who is living on the system and allow for ease of movement for those who aren’t.
“People wanted to live on them and we wanted to allow people to live on the system for longer but part of what we have a commitment that you won’t harbour hog,” she explains.
Fees and charges
The new bye-laws require you to pay a fee of between €160 to €1,600 for an annual mooring depending on size of boat, location and services provided. If you want a permit for an annual houseboat mooring then you must pay a fee of between €1,250 to €3,500.
McGirr explains that the wide variation between charges is designed to give the authority a lot of leeway over the next 15 years as prices fluctuate. She points to the fact that the proposed annual mooring fee at the popular location at Grand Canal Dock is €2,500 as evidence that charges will not automatically be at the higher end of what is allowed.
The charges also include the connection to water and electricity service and in some cases broadband availability.
A boat moored in the village of Clondra. (Pic: Eamon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)
But there have been objections to the proposed changes with turned Labour Seantor John Whelan saying that the bye-law changes could lead to “disused and derelict backwaters”.
“New mooring fees, heavy-handed regulation and exorbitant charges for house boats will have a detrimental effect on access, boating and tourism development. What the canals require is more cop-on and less red tape,” he argues.
Another Labour Senator John Kelly has pointed at another rule that he feels is unfair, restrictions on the amount of time a person can moor their boat:
The proposal to restrict mooring to five days is another flawed suggestion, one that is unique to boating on these islands. To think that a boat user could spend five days moored at a location, contributing to the local economy, and then be fined €150 for wanting to stay and contribute for a longer period, is ludicrous.
But Waterway’s Ireland have argued that this is in fact is already the rule and that there is still some wiggle room for cruisers.
McGirr says that if a person is moored in one location for five days, if they then move more than three kilometers than they can moor their boat in the new location with no charge.
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Rosie and Jim won’t be happy
So if I’m weekending along the Royal or Grand canals on my wee boat and arrive in a village on a Saturday, go into the local hostelry, eat drink and be merry contributing to the local economy, pack up and drive home on Sunday to earn enough to return next weekend to move to the next village to repeat the process then I’ve just broken the five day rule and liable for a 150 euro fine. So that’s “Waterways Ireland” are proposing to do for tourism in the midlands.
They’re just looking for ways to make themselves relevant. They couldn’t use their time to try and IMPROVE the system, oh no… Too much like hard work.
Besides, Ms McGirr refers to the fee at Grand Canal Dock costing so much. If you stay on the main dock at Grand Canal, prepare to have a short day in Dublin – access to your vessel will be restricted to opening hours of the Waterway Ireland office which one must pass through (AFAIK).
Thus the midlands are waaaay nicer to transit…
No stone left unturned when it comes to making people pay the government every year to live in their own house / boat / caravan / tent
That’s it, caravan parks will be next.
The way things are going in Cork city it would be far cheaper living in a house boats.
This is nonsense – “more and more people are choosing to live in a houseboat on Ireland’s canals.”
Having lived on a barge for 10 years through the boom times the rate of people coming to live on canals on an annual basis was very slow. In recent years it has slowed down to a trickle even with the arse having falling out of the barge market.
Here more nonsense “Waterway’s Ireland say that at present they have no way of accurately saying how many people live on houseboats in Ireland” – the truth is they know exactly how many and their names. They did their first count 10 years ago and have monitored it closely ever since.
Heres a few facts: At the moment there are about 80 house boats on Ireland’s canals. They currently pay €278 a year for their moorings. Many will not be able to afford the new fees. Waterways Ireland’s answer? Send them to social services!
I have a sinking feeling about this one
An unfortunate article, so choc full of….errmm…. “factual inaccuracies” that it is difficult to know where to begin. The current regulations which apply are the Canals Act 1986 (Bye-Laws) 1988. They require that a boat moored in the same place for more than 5 days MUST have a Mooring Permit. There are 2 types specified, a monthly permit or an annual permit. There are a few restrictions on where you may moor, but in general, they apply to anywhere on the canals or Barrow. Waterways Ireland (WI) have “declined to issue” the monthly permit for approx. 5 years and, despite there being no such regulation, have persistently told people that the ANNUAL mooring permit only allows 5 days mooring in the one place. To support their contention they have in the past published incomplete versions of the mooring bye-law, contrary to the 1925 Documentary Evidence Act. No permit whatsoever is required, PROVIDED that one pays for locks as used and DOES NOT moor in the same place for more than 5 days. The current cost of an annual permit is €126= and this applies whether you live on your boat or not.
In the summer of 2012 WI announced their intention to introduce new permits and charges. These were described as an annual Combined Mooring and Passage Permit (CMP), costing €126= and allowing mooring in the same location for up to 5 days, and an Extended Mooring Permit (EMP), costing €152= which allowed continuous mooring in the same location for up to a year. It then transpired that to purchase either permit one would have to sign an indemnity essentially undertaking to personally indemnify WI from any claims whatsoever. This proved to be beyond the general cover provided under most boat insurance. (I believe it has since been changed). To purchase an EMP one would also have to pay an additional security deposit of €250=. The deposit, although refundable on the expiry of the permit, failed to specify any conditions under which it could be retained nor any mechanism by which any retention could be appealed. It then became apparent that having purchased an EMP, the permit actually granted no exclusive rights (as prohibited by the Canals Act) to the use of the “allocated” mooring and if one left it vacant it could then be moved into by another boat. There is provision in the Act by which such exclusive rights could be granted under lease, but WI have thus far “declined to issue” these.
Some time thereafter (at least by Nov 2012) WI were being advised that as they had failed to obtain consent of the Minister to make new bye-laws, nor held the required public consultation, the changes they had made were unlikely to be lawful. They were granted consent in June 2013 and the subsequent public consultation finished on February 3rd. They have, and continue to, sell the permits which were changed without Ministerial consent.
If these changes do come to pass……
Boats will continue to be continuously on the navigation as there will STILL be no moorings off the canal,
WI’s duties as laid out in the Act are 1) Navigation 2) Fishing 3) Other recreation
The total liveaboard community is very small and its simply not believable that they are not already known to WI
The licence will still not grant any exclusive rights to use so if you move, your mooring may be gone.
As regards the proposed charges, of €160= to €1,600= there is insufficient detail generally within the draft Schedule to be able to calculate what sort of charge might apply to any given boat at any given location. The charge mentioned of €2,500= is for a “mooring” in GCD not a “live aboard/houseboat” mooring. It will be specified in the Schedule so cannot be varied therefore it WILL be the maximum charge being charged for a “mooring”. A live aboard/houseboat mooring in GCD may cost €3,500= but again, there is insufficient detail to calculate this. The other charges being proposed, for use of Dry docks and mooring fishing boats on the Barrow, have their own inherent problems.
It is ironic that the spokesperson should mention “ease of movement”" for those who don’t “live on the system”. As someone who doesn’t live aboard and who cruises across the canals to and from the Shannon each summer, let me assure your readers that the greatest inhibition to this is neither people living on boats nor moored boats “hogging” harbours. It’s actually the fact that the state of the navigation consistently fails to live up to the published navigational criteria. My boat was specifically designed in 1912 to travel the Grand Canal at 4 MPH with a 15 HP Bollinder engine. I now have a 110 HP engine and due to weed and lack of depth can only average 1.25 MPH. That’s 64 hours for 80 miles and the boat is a foot less deep in the water. Entering Dublin has its own problems with a proposed charge of either €50= or €100= (its unclear as its written) to cross the Liffey. This includes a €25= fee to pass under what will be the most expensive toll bridge IN THE WORLD, being 50 times dearer per unit distance travelled than the €4+ Billion Oersund Bridge/Tunnel linking Sweden and Denmark.
Another point worth noting by WI’s spokesperson is the “wiggle room”. Having to move 3 km after 5 days means I have to walk back 3 km from the boat to get public transport home. Unfortunately Bus Eireann don’t run a service along the towpath. I’ll also have to walk 3 km from the bus back to the boat on my return. Not very inviting. As for broadband, that I’m aware of, WI only provide that service within about 50 feet of the Box In The Docks in GCD. The ultimate irony, a winter mooring on the Shannon from 1st November to 31st March, with “connection” to water and electricity, would cost €63.50 in total from Waterways Ireland. Yes, that is SIXTY THREE EURO and FIFTY CENT…….!!!
Do not empty our canals and the barrow, with your by laws, of extortion and hyper inflation, life is not all about braking peoples hearts, all because as government bodies, you have to listen to small communities, that includes the people who live on houseboats, talk to us do not bully us off the waters, see some sense as every citizen is entitled to there homes, this is Ireland not a dictatorship, fairness and dialogue is all the boating people want, a voice reason, and most of all fairness,, so I ask the powers above to understand a home, a houseboat, are a pride of the people that live in them, artists walkers painters poets songwriters and all the boat people,, thank you for your thoughts ,, Irish poet Noel Dawson a boatman that lives in a boat house on the canal!!!
“People wanted to live on them and we wanted to allow people to live on the system for longer but part of what we have a commitment that you won’t harbour hog.”
I don’t know if this sentence was actually written by Waterways Ireland or mangled by the Journal but it makes no grammatical sense.
If the insinuation is that canal boats moor in canal harbours and refuse to move when requested, it is not true at all. Generally boaters are always ready and willing to move about. In the case of Sallins, boats (one of which I live on) were moored in the harbour on and off for many years as it was convenient. It was also a picturesque scene and was supported by the local community (check out the local Supervalu who put pictures of the houseboats on their supermarket walls). Last October, at the request of Waterways Ireland and with no coercion needed, all boats voluntarily vacated the harbour on a temporary basis so that moorings could be upgraded. Then when the harbour was empty, these amendments were proposed and, soon afterward, the harbour was barricaded up. This is bullying and extortion, basically, and these amendments will not be and are not being accepted by the citizens of Ireland.
Ever get that sinking feeling?
If you say an article is carelessly written or verging on unreadable you’re accused of being a grammar Nazi.
OK, where do you start? With the intro of the week?
“WATERWAY’S IRELAND ARE insisting that new bye-law changes are about acknowledging that more and more people are choosing to live in a houseboat on Ireland’s canals.”
Are more and more people living in a houseboat? Where is this houseboat? The boat must be very crowded by now. Why has the organisation concerned (yes, “has” – it is singular, a collective noun) been renamed and rebranded? Why is it no longer called Waterways Ireland? The mad apostrophe makes it seem like there is only one waterway for this houseboat. Brilliant.
Talking of which, “houseboat” or “house boat”? One word or two? Oh, don’t worry about it. Just say it both ways in the same story. Words don’t matter any more. Just sail through the English language, don’t watch what you’re doing, and end on phrases such as: “Waterway’s Ireland have argued that this is in fact is already the rule”.
This is in fact a sentence choked with weeds.
They will just have to go through the right canals !!
Ah Clondra, Gods Country.
€2500 a year to live in Grand Canal Dock? Sounds like a bargain to me!
It probably is but the vast majority of canal users never come near Grand canal dock, many of then never even come near Dublin but they’ll all be caught with the same charges.
For your €2,500=, Fergus you get access to a floating jetty with a water tap and a 16 amp socket to plug a cable into. That’s it….!! If its a house boat mooring and you’re going to live aboard, it could cost up to €1,000= more. You have to provide the boat, so somewhere between 20k and 250k. The biggest boat you’ll probably get is likely to be 60 ft x 13 ft which will usually have about 600 to 700 sq ft of living space. You could in theory get something about 110 ft x 24 ft in off the Liffey but it will have to be able to clear under a max of about 11 ft under the Mc Mahon Br. and in theory if it cant go up the canal (60 x 13) its not allowed in. Basic boats will usually have a toilet and shower, just as well as there’s none in GCD. A washing machine would not normally be found on a boat but I’m sure there are laundry’s about somewhere. There’s no car parking other than paid on street or whatever car parks may be in the area….so add that to your costs. I believe WI are currently including refuse in the price. I don’t know what the cost of the pump out is. You wont get a land line or other cable services. There’s a garage about 300 or 400 hundred yards where you can get gas for cooking. Deliveries of fuel and heating oil will probably be by 5 gal drum as WI don’t like to see tankers. Even €3,500= isn’t too bad for a Dn 2 address if you own a boat and have no car. Don’t worry if you’ve no kids, you will have the first warm day in spring. The stork delivers them, aged 10 to 16 already equipped with a wet suit. Just make sure that anything on deck is welded down…!!
This is absolute madness! The increase in charges are so onerous as to render the canals unsustainable.
These proposals will in essence mean the end of the canals being accessible to the ordinary boat person.
Shame on them!
In fairness to Senator John Whelan (no relation), he has raised this issue in the Seanad and directly with the minister responsible. Paddy Doheny Tullamore Labour candidate has also been proactive on this issue and has made a submission.
This proposal must not reach the statute book! Stop it now or see the canal network dwindle away.
Houseboat living is big in the NL. And very affordable all year round.
Jasus my dream would be to be able to adhere to the five day rule. Just imagine being able to go cruising every weekend. But alas my wife and my pocket don’t allow. Simple as.
The demand for moorings must be rather inelastic, otherwise Waterways Ireland would never dream of imposing such as large tax.
I don’t know the figures but there are hundreds maybe thousands of craft, barges and small cruisers on the canals and the Barrow, very few of them liveaboards and most owners barely affording to run and maintain them. If these new rules and charges are brought in they’ll be caught in a trap and faced with getting their boats off the water and its the local economies that’ll suffer
You can’t moor in public berths for more than 6 days on the Shannon or you get a fine
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